Nobody has sympathy for prisoners. We have images of psychotic killers and manipulative masterminds, but very few people know who is inside our community's cages. I don't know. I've never actually been inside a prison, for any reason. I've been outside a couple of them, but never even farted near enough to annoy the guards at the front door.

But everybody has a crime victim story, real or imagined. Everybody knows, or likes to think they know, what it's like to be robbed, raped or murdered. I've been robbed... one a snatch and grab in Rome, and the other a slimy roommate at the icecream factory, but not the other two mercifully.

So it should be in all our interests to reform criminals whilst they are in prison, so that we don't end up victims of crimes that could have been prevented when the person was in the 'care' of the state.

In my wildest, anarchist fantasies, I'd like to represent a class action lawsuit on behalf of the Future Crime Victims of America. I want the prisons to be transparent to all media and community members. We should be allowed to talk to any prisoner, at any time and demand accountability for their progress. We should be allowed to consult with the education and medical staff about their classes and treatments. And we should be allowed to be satisfied that every prisoner has a support network to go to when they are released. Not surveillance, but support... so that they know all the people they live with, and they know that their wellbeing is dependent on the wellbeing of their neighbors.